Finally ...

... a blog post NOT related to the 52 Weeks for Dogs project!

It seems like the only blog-time I have allotted myself over the past few weeks is to keep you all updated on the photography project. As much fun as that is, that is not what this blog is about! It's about the crazy antics that my boys get up to.

So ... back to the crazy! And by "crazy", I really mean "your average run at the park". Sorry to get your hopes up.

The weather is beautiful here today, despite the overcast gray-ness of it all. It's warm enough to venture out to the park without worrying about frozen paws or frostbitten camera trigger-fingers.

The boys were thrilled to get to run at the park again. It's been either too cold or too hectic to get out for runs as often as they would like. And luckily for us, despite the fabulous weather, the park was pretty empty. Apart from a couple of kids tobagganing down the hill (read: small mound) and a couple more having a snowball fight in the distance, we had the whole place to ourselves. I like this park because it is usually pretty empty, and whatever kids we do happen across tend to either ignore the dogs or want to throw a ball for them. Both of which are perfectly fine with me! The park is also big enough that the barking fool (ie. Gio) can bark his fool head off all he wants, and while I am sure that some of the surrounding houses can hear him, they are far enough away that it isn't too distracting or annoying. (I hope!)

So, there was lots of running ...


And for Gio, running = barking, so there was lots of that, too ...


Then Romeo wanted to play "King of the Castle" with the snow piles, a game that Gio finds no real joy in and grudgingly tolerates ...

I was occasionally throwing snow clumps for the dogs to chase, when one magically turned into a stick!!
This resulted in more running ... and barking ...


So what, you may ask, is the eventual outcome of all this barking?

Glamorous spittle strings, that's what!

Where Dogs Shouldn't Be

This week of the 52 Weeks for Dogs project included an optional challenge. The challenge: take a photo using the theme of "Places Dogs Shouldn't Be".

I initially had a totally different photo idea in mind, but when the challenge was issued, I couldn't pass it up! So my original idea got back-burnered until next week, and instead I started wracking my brain for unique ideas that play into the challenge theme.

I decided to take a little creative liberty in the process and finally settled on: Dogs should not be used in place of ...

Flower Vases
(only one flower was harmed in the making of these photos)

I liked the idea so much, that I had to take a couple more shots that included both dogs. I really liked how this one turned out, with both dogs glancing at the camera out the corner of their eye.

52 Weeks - Week 4

I took this photo earlier in the week, just haven't gotten around to posting it here until now.

Last weekend was a CRAZY winter storm that dumped 20 inches or so of snow on the city. And, despite shoveling the driveway out (multiple times, due to the wind blowing the snow all back in again), I was still unable to leave for work on Monday morning. SHAME!

The plows had not made it to the residential streets yet, so while I could move around comfortably in the driveway, I couldn't get anywhere on the street. So it was a SNOW DAY holiday!

I was excited to take advantage of this rare opportunity, where I wasn't otherwise engaged during daylight hours, to try for some outdoor action shots with Gio. But, while luck was allowing me to have a long weekend due to snow, it would not grant me any decent sunlight for action photos. I got a bunch of dark blurry romping in the snow shots, but nothing worthy of the 52 Weeks project. Instead, I opted for this photo.

Normally, I greatly dislike "shooting down at the dog" photos. They tend to look really amateur to me, so I hope that isn't the vibe with this photo. I love the big goofy grin and the snow all over his face from Sheltie Snow Plowing through the drifts. When the snow piles up between his eyes like this, I always think that it makes his eyes look so tiny and silly!

Snow Day

It appears as if the snow has finally stopped falling. Or, at least has tapered off to a light sprinkling. But the destruction left in its wake is pretty intense!

I live in a city that is used to snow. We're right smack in the middle of the Canadian prairies. We know snow. We know winter. We have the infrastructure to deal with such situations. Weather will rarely stop the city from running as usual.

This morning, the buses stopped running. I have heard tales that, of the 28 buses that were scheduled to be on routes this morning, 12 of them were stuck in snow drifts by the time service was canceled mid-morning. When Saskatoon buses stop running, you know it was some serious weather!

Luckily, it's not too cold out, just snow and wind. So, trying to be optimistic, it could be a heck of a lot worse. Like 40 below kind of worse.

These are the kind of snow days that I like! Enough powdery white stuff to cancel regular plans (like my Sunday afternoon Rally-O classes), but not cold enough to keep us housebound! So out we went to shovel the driveway, the workout from which I am now recovering. Who needs the gym when you have a thousand* pounds of snow to move?

I didn't actually measure how deep the snow was, and the "before" pictures I took didn't look very impressive. So I have called on my handy-dandy furry measuring sticks!

Gio is roughly 19.5" at the shoulder. Romeo is about 14" at the shoulder.

Here I have tossed some of the snow into a pile along the side of the driveway, edged by the neighbour's house. You can see the "smooth" bottom layer and the "chunky" top layer (yes, I thought of peanut butter, too). The smooth layer is where the snow fell, while the chunky is what was tossed on top from other parts of the driveway. The fallen snow layer is about 3" below Gio's shoulder, so one could estimate that there was about 16" of snow on the driveway. It wasn't consistently as thick across the whole driveway though, thanks to the wind.


Of course, the most fun is jumping through the BIG pile of snow near the fence!



I love a good Snow Face!


* May be a slight exaggeration.

It's Snowing

Really REALLY snowing!


The boys are loving it. I also love snow, as long as I don't have to drive in it and it magically disappears from my driveway without any effort on my part. Unfortunately, those things rarely come along with snow. But I do love watching it fall and blow from the comfort of my living room!

This snow storm is supposed to last for the next two days with a predicted 15cm (~6in).

52 Weeks - Week 3

So it's a couple of days late ... sorry. This picture was posted to the Flickr group a couple of days ago, I just haven't had the time to put it here yet. So without further ado ...

WEEK 3


My goal this week was to try and capture Gio's goofy side. I bought this toy ring a while ago and he is absolutely nuts over it! He insists on carrying it around over his head like this, instead of like what most would consider "normal". Even if he does pick it up normally, he will stop and toss his head around until he "fixes" it (ie. loops it back over his head like a gomer).

The ring, if anyone is curious, is something I picked up from a locally owned pet store here in Saskatoon. The label said it is "water buffalo leather". I can vouch that it is really leather ... whether that leather came from a water buffalo or your run-of-the-mill cow, I cannot say for sure. But whatever it is, this thing is like cat-nip for the dogs! They are crazy about it (and were really hoping that Gramma might buy them another one for Christmas so that they didn't have to share).

On a side note, though arguably more important than a silly picture of Gio with a ring on his face ...

DONATE TO CANADA'S HAITI RELIEF FUND

SUCCESS!

Or ... at least, we are getting closer!

I made a second attempt today to capture the picture that was in my mind for LAST week's "52 Weeks for Dogs" photo project. I was aiming for a simple portrait-type picture. Something to showcase the dignified, handsome, regal image that Gio likes to portray to the general public. My first attempt failed, and instead I wound up with the "Sheltie-Mind-Meld Hover Ball incident".

I am MUCH happier with the result of this week's attempt!

Thanks to everyone that posted tips and comments last week! Keep 'em coming.

To see the whole project to date (note: it's only week 2 of 2010 ... so guess how many pictures there are so far?), CLICK HERE.